BBC Review

In a music world where bands are now made into legends on the back of one decent single, Kasabian are practically at god status, despite their decidedly average eponymous debut.

If that album posed one question, it was whether the band lacked an extra dimension; an ability to write something other than a full-on chaotic anthem. Empire doesn't do anything to allay that worry, though it does at least show they've widened their musical references.

Opening with the ridiculously pompous title track and rushing straight into a bizarre slab of glam rock in "Shoot The Runner", there's a distinct worry that the lads have lost it completely. Then "Last Trip (In Flight)" kicks in the tight beats and normal service is resumed.

There are still hiccups, not least with the ballad "British Legion" and the Chemical Brothers outtake "Apnoea", but "Sun/Rise/Light/Flies" maddening epicness, the twisting techno throb of "Stuntman", and the closing swirling psychedelia of "The Doberman" do enough to fill in the major cracks in the album.

Empire is an adequate successor to an adequate debut, but let's remember something. True musical legends have more than one string to their bow. It's time for Kasabian to find theirs.

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